Adia is back at India’s public offering market

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) isn’t taking its foot off the India investment pedal, turning up as an anchor investor in the USD 934 mn (AED 3.4 bn) IPO of Indian hospital network Manipal Health Enterprises, as per the company's anchor allocation filing (pdf).

Adia was allotted 3.4 mn equity shares — representing 4.8% of Manipal’s total order book — for a total investment of INR 1.99 bn (USD 20.9 mn).

The offering: Priced among one of India’s largest healthcare listings, Manipal Health raised INR 41.7 bn (USD 436.8 mn) from its anchor investors ahead of its public issue. The public offering raised USD 960.4 mn, Reuters reports, making it the second largest IPO in India this year. The hospital operator runs 38 hospitals with 10.7k licensed beds across 14 Indian states.

Manipal has seen UAE sovereign backing before: The hospital operator is already backed by Mubadala which, alongside two other funds, purchased a minority stake of 8% in Manipal Health from Singapore’s Temasek in 2024 for an undisclosed amount. The fund said it would not be selling any of its stake during the IPO.

Why it matters: The investment extends Adia's recent run of anchor commitments in India's capital markets, following its participation in SBI Funds Management's IPO earlier this month, which was the largest Indian IPO so far this year. The sovereign fund has also backed infrastructure deployments in a sign of continued conviction in India's long-term healthcare, financial services, and energy transition sectors.

IN CONTEXT- Adia recently backed Kotak Alternate Asset Managers’ USD 1 bn India real estate fund with a commitment of more than USD 675 mn. It also backed KRN Heat Exchangers’ USD 36.8 mn QIP and participated in Acme Solar’s USD 328 mn equity raise. It also bought into India’s RBL Bank prior to ENBD taking a controlling stake.

More to come?

UAE sovereign wealth funds and companies are preparing a new wave of investments into India, undersecretary at the UAE’s Investment Ministry Mohammad Alhawi told the Economic Times.

When and where? Announcements can be expected in the coming months across sectors like AI, logistics, food security, and infrastructure, according to Alhawi. Emirati investors are “actively” and “very seriously” looking at prospects in India, he said.

The UAE has invested nearly USD 25.6 bn in India between 2000 and 2026, making up around 70% of all Gulf investments into the country.

Why it matters: Alongside traditional segments such as infrastructure and logistics, AI and defense have emerged as priority areas for cooperation, with the UAE providing long-term capital and computing infrastructure while India contributes engineering talent and scale. This includes G42's collaboration with India’s advanced computing arm to build an 8-exaflop supercomputing cluster.